board of directors

Dr. Yap has over 27 years experience in finance, investment and banking.  Dr. Yap was the President and a director of Burcon Group Limited from June 1998 to July 2007, a private company which is involved in real estate and other investments.  Dr. Yap obtained his Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Victoria in 2001.  Dr. Yap is the Chairman of Hanny Holdings Limited and Executive Director of Rosedale Hotel Holdings Limited (formerly known as Wing On Travel (Holdings) Limited) and See Corporation Limited, all of which are companies whose shares are listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.  He is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of China Enterprises Limited, a company whose shares are traded on the OTC Securities Market in the United States.  He is the Executive Chairman of PSC Corporation Ltd., Intraco Limited and Tat Seng Packaging Group Ltd., all of which are companies whose shares are listed on the Singapore Exchange Limited.  He is also the Chairman of MRI Holdings Limited, a company whose shares are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. 

Mr. Tergesen was one of the founding shareholders of Burcon Capital Corp., which acquired B.M.W. Canola Inc. in October of 1999 and subsequently changed its name to Burcon NutraScience Corporation.  Prior to his role as President and Chief Operating Officer of Burcon, Mr. Tergesen was Vice President and Treasurer of BurCon Properties Limited, a real estate development and ownership company with assets in excess of $3 billion.  Mr. Tergesen has been with the Burcon group of companies since December of 1995.  Prior to that, he was a manager in the corporate finance group of the Vancouver office of Coopers & Lybrand, Chartered Accountants.  Mr. Tergesen holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Winnipeg, an M.B.A. from McGill University, and is a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Ms. Chau is the Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of ITC Corporation Limited, a company which has interests in a diverse portfolio of businesses and the shares of which are listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.  Ms. Chau has over 29 years of experience in international corporate management and finance.  Ms. Chau holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree in Commerce and is a fellow member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the CPA Australia and a member of the Certified General Accountants’ Association of Canada.  Ms. Chau was a director of Oxford Properties Group Inc. from July 1995 to October 2001.  Ms. Chau was a director of BurCon Properties Limited from July 1997 to May 1998.

Mr. Westdal is a founder of B.M.W. Canola Inc., the Manitoba based company that developed the technology acquired by Burcon NutraScience Corporation in October 1999.  Mr. Westdal is a professional agrologist, belonging to the Agricultural Institute of Canada.  He is President of Agri-Tec International, a consortium of grain based construction companies located in Winnipeg.  Mr. Westdal was previously the Director of Marketing for the Canadian International Grains Institute.  He has been employed for over 30 years in various positions in Canada and abroad with the Canadian Wheat Board.  Mr. Westdal has over 31 years of experience marketing and developing sales of agricultural products around the world.  Mr. Westdal holds Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Manitoba.  

After an extensive teaching and research career, Dr. Lawrence Wang retired in 2005 and became Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta.  Dr. Wang undertook his graduate studies in the United States and finished his Masters degree in Biology at Rice University, Houston, Texas, and his Ph.D. degree in Animal Physiology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in the 1960’s.  Dr. Wang’s research involved energy and fat metabolism and the enhancement of cold tolerance in man, hibernation and hypothermia, and the influence of herbs (e.g. ginseng) on learning and memory, aging, exercise and obesity.  His publications include five patents, five edited books, and over 150 original scientific research papers and reviews.  He is the inventor of the Canadian Cold Buster bar and the Access bar, patented products based on his 18 years of research on energy and fat metabolism. 

Dr. Wang has received numerous awards including the Innovative Technology of the Year, Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Award (1992), the Gordon Royal Maybee Award from the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (1992), Elected Fellow, Academy of Sciences, Royal Society of Canada (FRSC, 1993), the highest honor achievable by academics in Canada and the Friendship Award, Government of China, for service to eco-rehabilitation and poverty alleviation in rural China (2006).

Dr. D. Lorne Tyrrell is the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR)/Glaxo SmithKline Chair in Virology in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Alberta.  Since 1986, he has focused his research on viral hepatitis.  Supported by CIHR and Glaxo Canada, Dr. Tyrrell’s work on the development of antiviral therapy resulted in the licensing of the first oral antiviral agent to treat chronic hepatitis B infection – lamivudine - in 1998.  Dr. Tyrrell holds 22 international patents for his studies on viral hepatitis.  Dr. Tyrrell was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry from 1994 – 2004 at the University of Alberta and is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Gairdner Foundation.  The Canada Gairdner International Awards recognizes excellence in medical science research globally.  Dr. Tyrrell has received numerous prestigious awards including the Gold Medal of the Canadian Liver Foundation (2000), the FNG Starr Award of the Canadian Medical Association (2004) and the Principal Award of the Manning Awards Foundation (2005).  In April 2010, D. Lorne Tyrrell was appointed as the inaugural director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology at the University of Alberta.

Mr. Chan is an executive director of ITC Corporation Limited and ITC Properties Group Ltd., both of Hong Kong.  At ITC Corporation Limited, Mr. Chan has focused on the sourcing, negotiations and valuation of venture capital deals in various sectors including technology in the U.S. and Korea, natural resources and commodities opportunities in China, hospitality in Greater China and Southeast Asia, public and private corporate finance transactions, as well as business development and strategy for the group’s hospitality business.  At ITC Properties Group Ltd., Mr. Chan has been involved with due diligence, negotiations, investment, sourcing as well as master planning and design of commercial, hospitality and residential projects.  In addition, he is the lead executive director developing new policies for green and sustainable development practices throughout the group.  Mr. Chan is an alternate director to Dr. Chan Kwok Keung, Charles for PYI Corporation Limited.  Prior to joining ITC, Mr. Chan worked in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs Group with a focus on capital raising, mergers & acquisitions and strategic advisory for financial institutions in Greater China and Southeast Asia with transactions ranging from US$500 million to US$5.6 billion. Mr. Chan is a graduate of Duke University majoring in Political Science - International Relations with minors in Philosophy and Economics. He is an advisor of the Bisagni Environmental Enterprise (BEE Inc.).

Mr.Hall is a marketing and consumer packaged goods veteran with unique expertise in step change marketing initiatives. Matt had a 31-year career with Nestle, the world’s largest food and beverages company. Having worked in several countries, including Nestle’s head office in Switzerland, Matt has gained extensive experience across continents, business functions and product categories. Matt has developed and implemented step change marketing, communications and sales capability initiatives, which were launched in Canada, rolled out globally and resulted in sustained growth and profit results for Nestle.  As Managing Director/CEO, Food, Coffee and Beverages Division, Nestle U.K. from January 2008 to March 2010, Matt has initiated and implemented organizational re-designs and new product launches, introduced leading edge sustainability processes along with health, wellness and nutrition programs.

Mr. Hall is currently an associate with London, England based GoodBrand, an international sustainability and social responsibility consultancy developing strategies and creating programs to build value for food and beverage industry clients.  Mr. Hall is also executive in residence and a member of the advisory board of the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia.

Douglas Gilpin, C.A., ICD.D. retired from the partnership of KPMG LLP in 1999.  In 2008, Mr. Gilpin received a Life Time Achievement Award from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta in recognition of 40 years experience in delivering professional services to business and the community.  During his 18 years tenure as a partner in Advisory Services at KPMG he served as an audit engagement partner.  He was a member of the KPMG’s National Quality Assurance, the National Financial Institutions and Insurance Groups and he was the Quality Assurance Partner for the Edmonton office for 10 years.  Mr. Gilpin continues to consult on corporate governance, including compliance with the Sarbanes Oxley Act 404 and National Instrument 52-109 reporting for issuers listed on the TSX.  Mr. Gilpin has served as a director of Canada Health Infoway (“CHI”) and currently is a director of Afexa Life Sciences Inc. (“Afexa”), the makers of COLD-FX, where he served as lead director until June 2011 and as a director of The Institute of Health Economics of Alberta (“IHI”) and Alberta Innovates Technology Futures.  He was the chair of the governance committee and a member of the audit committee of CHI, and is the Chair of the audit committee for each of Afexa and IHI.  Mr. Gilpin is executive chair of The Inspections Group, a privately owned company that performs safety code inspection services, building, plumbing and gas and electrical inspections in compliance with the Safe Codes Act of Alberta.  Mr. Gilpin is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and recently received his ICD.D designation from the Institute.